Luis Suárez is tireless, according to Brendan Rodgers, never complaining about carrying Liverpool's attack on his own but simply getting on with the job with commendable enthusiasm, but it never does any harm to use the Capital One Cup to check on the strength in reserve.

So it was a warm Anfield welcome to Samed Yesil, making his first Liverpool start since joining from Bayer Leverkusen in summer, and a warm welcome back to Joe Cole, who apart from a hamstring-curtailed 23 minutes in a Europa League qualifier in early August has not been seen for a year, having spent last season on loan at Lille. The French club would have been happy to extend the loan, so successful was Cole's stay, but when he heard Rodgers wanted him in his squad he came straight back.

While he probably imagined he would get more games than has turned out to be the case, Rodgers argues that it would be unfair to discard the young players who stepped in during his injury just because one of the senior professionals has returned to fitness, adding that he was looking forward to giving Cole a chance to see what he could do.

What that boils down to is that at the age of 30, Cole was effectively on trial, arguably under more pressure to perform than the 18-year-old Turkish-German striker with whom he was attempting to strike up a partnership. Yesil has yet to make his name, after all, time is on his side, and with so little experience there are no immediate expectations.

Cole keeps having to try to live up to the name he made for himself over a decade ago. Having come to Liverpool in search of stability after Chelsea, he finds himself on his third manager in two years and as far away as ever from a regular place in the team.

This uncomfortable audition will have done nothing for his peace of mind. There was no attacking partnership, for a start. Yesil was even more anonymous than Cole, and that was saying something. In the early stages Cole was upstaged by the other Joe in the Liverpool team, Joe Allen, who was running the home side's show against his former club from a deeper midfield position and putting Swansea on the back foot by cleverly mixing short and long passes.

Swansea never mind being on the back foot, though, they simply play their way back into the game, and it soon became apparent that Rodgers's old club had a few more attacking ideas than his present one.

Even when Liverpool were going forward they mostly went down the flanks, through Stewart Downing or Jordan Henderson, despite it being obvious from an early stage that neither Yesil nor Cole were going to thrive on a succession of crosses. When Swansea went forward they passed their way through Liverpool's central defence, sometimes continuing to pass when they were well within shooting range and a direct attempt would have been the better option.

It was slightly ironic when Swansea scored with a header from a corner after Jonathan de Guzmán and Michu had both missed inviting opportunities with the ball at their feet, yet it was no injustice. Swansea deserved to be in front, and Liverpool needed to find a way to bring Cole and Yesil more effectively into the attack, for the game was taking place around them.

Within a couple of minutes of going behind Cole was presented with a chance to equalise when a cross from the left found him unmarked in front of goal, only to react with an unconvincing header straight at the goalkeeper. Cole is not renowned for his heading, nor is he anyone's idea of a goalscoring centre-forward, but given that he had seen so little of the ball he really needed to make something happen when it finally came his way. Suárez or Steven Gerrard would have done better, one could not help but feel, and it was no surprise when that pair took the field for the second half, with Cole and Yesil making way.

At a whole 45 minutes, Cole's latest Liverpool appearance was almost twice as long as his last, but sadly it was just as unproductive. Liverpool attacked with more urgency in the second half, though in truth they could hardly have attacked with any less.

Short of attacking options though Liverpool might be, it appears Cole is unlikely to form one of them, and he might need another move to find a regular position, let alone a regular game. As long as Suárez, who salvaged a headed goal for Liverpool, is fit and available, Cole appears destined just to make the odd bit-part appearance in his final season as Liverpool, and there might not be too many of those now the club's interest in the Capital One Cup has ended.